US: COOL regulations effective today

Today, mandatory country-of-origin labelling (COOL) of
retail meat takes effect in the US after years of debate.

Approx. 36,000 grocery stores are now required to
label beef, pork, lamb and chicken products, as well as fresh and frozen fruits
and vegetables, macadamia nuts, pecans, ginseng and peanuts.

Retailers
are now required to keep records verifying country of origin claims for 1 year
from the sale of products. In turn, suppliers of covered commodities must
possess or have access to records as well. This implies that meat packers will
require all slaughter livestock to be accompanied by producer
affidavits.